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In 1882, the Greenback movement having begun to subside, the Republicans elected Hon. Frederick Robie Governor by a plurality of 8,560 votes. They have since held possession of the State, electing Frederick Robie Governor in 1834, and Joseph R. Bodwell in 1886. Gov. Bodwell died December 15. 1887, and Hon. Sebastian S. Marble, President of the Senate. acted as Governor during the remainder of his term. In 1888 Edwin C. Burleigh was elected Governor, and re-elected 1890.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES.
Temperature and Climate - Area - Water Power -Forest Products - Fish and Game - Agriculture - Shore and Deep-Sea Fisheries -Shipbuilding - Granite, Slate, Limerock and Ice - Manufactures -Condition of Op- eratives - Deposits in Savings Banks - Railroad Systems - Pleasure Trav- el-Lake and Seaside Resorts - Reasons why the People Should Be Con- tented with their Lot.
TEMPERATURE AND CLIMATE.
ITHE State of Maine lies between the 43d and 47th degrees T of North latitude, along the 45th parallel, which position gives it a moderate temperature and variable winds. The mean annual temperature of the whole State is about 40 degrees. The summer is cool, the winter not so severe as in correspond- ing latitudes in the interior.
The climate is healthful, malarious fevers being unknown ; al- though on the coast, where the moisture is excessive, diseases of the respiratory organs prevail.
AREA.
Presenting a broad base of 226 miles to the sea, with a hun- dred harbors opening on the great Gulf of Maine, the State ex- tends in a triangular form nearly to the St. Lawrence, a dis- tance of 250 miles. It has a width of 224 miles at its widest part, and an extreme length of 301 miles. The whole circuit of its boundaries is nearly 1,000 miles, and it has an area of 31,- 766 square miles, being nearly as large as all the rest of New England.
WATER POWER.
Few, if any portions of the earth's surface approach Maine in the extent, the volume, momentum and constancy of its water power. Its northern forests absorb the abundant rainfall like a sponge. More than 1,500 lakes serve as so many reservoirs for its retention, while their outlets, flowing through rock-bound beds, and falling in the short distance of 150 to 200 miles, from an average elevation of 600 feet, leap in a series of cascades to the sea.
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These conditions give the State great advantages for the prosecution of commerce and manufactures, while its agricul- tural capabilities are greater than has generally been supposed.
FOREST PRODUCTS.
A prime source of the wealth of Maine is found in her forests. These cover the northern portion of the State, and comprise twelve million acres, or 62.7 of its entire territory. Of this percentage 22.4 per cent is in farm lands and the remainder in wild lands. The entire forest area of New England is but 19,- 193,028 acres, of which it will be seen Maine possesses nearly two-thirds. Originally her forests abounded in pine, which, at one time, was considered almost the only timber worth cutting. As a consequence the pine has greatly diminished, yet the prod- act is still large and quite constant ; in 1888 over 29,000,000 feet of pine timber were surveyed at the port of Bangor, and this is not far from the average yearly survey for the years since 1860.
As the pine has diminished other woods, once thought to pos- sess no commercial value, have come into use, notably spruce, birch, maple and other hard woods. Great quantities of the softer woods are consumed in the manufacture of paper pulp, and birch is worked up into spools. New uses for what once were considered nearly worthless woods are constantly being found, thus adding to the value of the forest product. From 1855 to 1891 there were surveyed at Bangor 6,267,403,785 feet of lumber, 23,114,771 feet of which was pine. In 1888 there were shipped from the port of Portland to South American ports 36,654,610 feet, valued at $769,911.61, and in 1891, 10,- 000,000 feet, valued at $1,100,000.
This industry gives employment to a large number of men. The hardy lumbermen enter the woods in the late autumn, making their homes for the winter in the logging camps. They cut the timber, draw it to the streams, and in the spring come out with the floods, and drive the logs down the swollen rivers to the great saw-mills on the Penobscot and other rivers. Some of these mills are the largest in the world, and the timber is there manufactured into all the forms of building materials. The annual value of this forest product may still be placed at $11,000,000 to $12,000,000 for timber and firewood.
The State having unwisely parted with all its wild land, it is
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now largely held by private owners, in immense tracts, often comprising one or more townships. These owners clear no land, and sell no land, thus obstructing its settlement and the mak- ing of roads.
The forests must remain an important source of the commer- cial and industrial importance of the State. Their preserva- tion has therefore become a matter claiming the attention of its people, and the demand is now made that greater precautions shall be taken against fires. Trees below a certain size are not allowed to be cut, a condition which enters into the landholders' . leases to the loggers. The art of forestry must henceforth demand the attention of all interested in the preservation of one of the great resources of the State.
FISH AND GAME.
A source of wealth and healthful recreation is also found in the pursuit of the fish and game abounding in these forests. The numerous lakes and streams afford good fishing, while deer, moose and caribou are found in the woods. These, of late years, have been protected by game laws, more or less enforced, and the result has been an increase in the deer, which, under the indiscriminate slaughter of pot hunters, had become nearly exterminated.
Under the operations of a fish commission the lakes and streams have been restocked with edible fish, and the salmon is now caught on the Penobscot, from which it had been driven by dams and sawdust. The wise preservation of the fish and game will conserve to' the State a source of revenue and of food for the people.
AGRICULTURE.
Though the soil of Maine, as a whole, is not noted for its fer- tility, yet in the rich intervale lands of its river valleys and the broad fields of Aroostook the State has regions of great produc- tiveness. Agriculture must always form one of its leading in- dustries. Taken in connection with the related industries for which Maine is so well adapted by its abundant water power, it offers a promising field for the enterprise of the young men of the State. Though capital invested in farms does not pay a large interest, it gives a good return in the independent position of the farmer ; and the sturdy manhood and genuine womanhood of the State are nurtured on the home farm.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
The leading crops of Maine, in the order of amount raised, are hay, potatoes, oats, Indian corn, wheat, buckwheat and bar- ley.
The orchards, which, in the past, have been much neglected, are now becoming a prominent source of income through the foreign demand for Maine apples, which are noted for their excellent flavor and keeping qualities. Large shipments of them are now annually made to England. The value of the orchard products of the State, given by the census of 1880 at $1,112,026, must now be much increased.
Potatoes form the leading product of the fertile lands of Aroostook. The crop, which, by the census of 1880, was 2,248,- 594 bushels, has now reached 3,000,000 bushels. It is largely consumed in the manufacture of starch on the spot, thus sus- taining an important local industry, the annual product of which is over 7,000 tons.
Sweet corn is another crop which maintains a related indus- try in the canning business. The preserving of green vegeta- bles by hermetical sealing, in this country, was first practiced in Maine, and its silicious soil and sparkling atmosphere are pe- culiarly adapted to the growth of sugar corn. The canned product has a wide reputation, and gives employment, in its. season, to a large number of hands. In 1888 the number of cases packed was 496,200, which was 247,969 cases less than were packed in 1887, the shrinkage being due to unusually severe- frosts in September.
The annual wool clip is an item of much importance, reaching in 1880 no less than 2,776,407 pounds.
The establishment of butter and cheese factories has had the. effect to increase these products of the farm, and the canning business has created a market for various vegetables.
The census of 1880 gives the number of men engaged in ag- riculture in Maine as 89,170 out of 258,587 men, and 243 wom- en out of 261,082 women. The number of farms was 64,309; acres of improved land, 3,484,908; value of farms, $102,357,615; value of farm products, $21,945,489. The value of the products. of all mechanical and manufacturing industries was $106,780,- 563. The valuation of the State was fixed by the census at. $511,000,000.
The agricultural industry of the State is now well organized,. having as agencies for its advancement two State agricultural
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HISTORY OF MAINE.
societies, one State pomological society, a State branch of the National Agricultural Experiment Station, a State Board of Agriculture, a State Grange, having 16,000 members, forty- one incorporated county agricultural societies receiving boun- ty from the State, and many other organizations of a similar character not directly aided by the State.
FISHERIES.
The shore and deep-sea fisheries were the earliest industries of Maine. The first adventurers who made a lodgment on the islands along the coast came in pursuit of fish and trade with the Indians. Fishing, with the coast population, has taken pre- cedence of agriculture, causing neglect of the cultivation of the soil. The harvest of the sea has been, at times, of greater value than the product of the land, though at other times the yield has been next to nothing. Yet the chances of lucky hauls have lured men from the steady pursuit of the more certain gains of agriculture. The fisheries have bred a race of hardy men, who have supplied sailors for the navy and the mercantile marine.
In the amount of tonnage employed in the fisheries, Maine- ranks next to Massachusetts. By the census of 1880, Maine had 11,071 persons engaged in the fisheries ; capital invested, $3,375,994; value of product, $3,614,178; number of vessels, 606 ; tonnage, 17,632.65 tons ; value of vessels, $633,542. Owing to the fluctuations in the business caused by the migratory hab- its of certain species of fish, the number of men and vessels em- ployed varies much from year to year. In the year ending June 30, 1888, Maine had but 453 vessels engaged in the cod and mackerel fisheries, with a tonnage of 16,301 tons. The. catch of mackerel for 1888 was the smallest known for fifty years, being 25,511 barrels, against 56,919 for 1887, 58,557 for 1886, and 258,900 for 1885. The total catch of codfish by the Maine and Massachusetts fleets was 585,581 quintals, against 676,723 quintals in 1887, a falling off of 91,142 quintals. The fleet numbered 305 sail from Massachusetts and 190 sail from Maine, a total of 495 sail against a total of 560 sail in 1887 and 589 in 1886.
The lobster fishery is an important industry, calling for much legislation in the way of close time and limitation of catchable length, to prevent the extermination of this delicious crustacean. The contention is that the nine-inch lobster should not be used,
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
as it has not yet come to maturity and has no eggs attached to it, while the ten and one-half inch lobster has from 15,000 to 25,000 eggs attached to it. The yearly catch is estimated at 15,000,000 lobsters, sustaining a large canning industry, while many are shipped to markets in barrels.
The smelt and alewive fisheries form a considerable item in the yearly product of the sea, though the latter is gradually falling off. The herring-sardine business, an enterprise which originated in Maine, has attained considerable magnitude. There are forty factories in the State, their product for 1887-88 being 500,000 cases, each case containing 100 boxes, and each box ten or twelve little fishes.
SHIPBUILDING.
Shipbuilding is also to be numbered among the earliest industries of Maine. In 1607 the Popham colonists built at the mouth of the Kennebec the first vessel constructed in New Eng- land, and that river is today the scene of the largest ship-build- ing industry in the country. For many years the building of wooden vessels ranked among the most important manufactures of Maine, but the famous clipper ships which flourished from 1848 to 1870 have given place to iron steamships, and the build- ing of wooden vessels has greatly declined.
The number of vessels built in Maine in 1880 was 88, with a tonnage of 41,396, giving employment to 1,390 hands, whose wages amounted to $576,502. In 1888 were built 22 vessels, 12,227.35 tons; 1889, 81 vessels, 39,623.72 tons ; 1890, 105 vessels, 62,859 tons; 1891, 124 vessels, 49,616.88 tons. Of those for 1891, 39 with a tonnage of 32,063.14 were built at Bath, which is the leading shipbuilding port of the country. The domestic or coastwise tonnage is increasing, as is also the size of vessels. In the coasting trade a two-masted schooner of three hundred tons was formerly considered a good-sized vessel. Now fore- and-aft vessels are built to carry three, four and even five masts, and their tonnage is many times three hundred tons. The five-masted schooner, Governor Ames, which sailed from Port- land April 30, 1889, took out to Buenos Ayres a cargo of 1,896,- 000 feet of spruce and pine lumber, the largest cargo, with one exception, ever taken by an American vessel.
Another change in the coastwise trade is the tendency to use barges towed by steam tugs, instead of sailing vessels, old ships
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being utilized for this purpose. The change in the rig of ves- sels is seen in the fact that of the vessels built in the United States during the year ending June 30, 1888, 275 were schoon- ers, and only four-two barks and two barkentines - were square-rigged vessels. Not a brig nor a ship was built during the year.
While the foreign tonnage of the country has fallen off the coastwise tonnage is increasing, and the indications point to a revival of shipbuilding in Maine.
QUARRIES.
Among Maine's natural sources of wealth must be counted her granite, slate, limerock and ice. The islands along her coast are largely composed of granite, which is also found of excellent quality in the interior. Quarries in Penobscot Bay have been operated to a large extent, and the white granite of Hallowell has long been used in fine ornamental work. Black granite is found at Addison, red and variegated at Jonesport and Calais. For paving, the construction of public buildings, and monumental work, Maine granite is in demand throughout the country. It gives employment to three thousand men, whose wages, on the average, amount to $1,500,000 annually.
The slate quarries of Piscataquis county afford excellent slate for roofing and all kinds of slate goods. For strength, durability and permanence of color it has no superior. Some of the quarries have been operated irregularly, but the demand for their product, the annual value of which has amounted to. about $200,000, is steadily increasing.
The limerock of Knox County has long sustained a consid- erable industry, the annual product amounting to about 1,500,- 000 barrels of lime.
Ice is a sure crop in Maine, and consequently has the advan- tage of its failure elsewhere. It affords a winter industry, which gives employment to more than 7,000 men and many teams. The operations on the Kennebec, the principal field of the in- dustry, where large crews of men and horses are employed in sweeping the snow from the surface of the ice, cutting it into blocks and hauling it into the huge storehouses on the shore, present a busy and picturesque scene on a bright winter day. The business gives employment to a large fleet of schooners, engaged in transporting the ice to Southern markets. The. annual storage usually amounts to a million tons.
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THE HISTORY OF MAINE.
MANUFACTURES.
The immense water power of Maine afforded by her swift- flowing and rock-bound rivers early led to the introduction of saw-mills, which utilized the abundant forest growth, and clear- ed the fields for the farmers. These were followed by woolen mills, which took from the hands of the housewife the domestic industry so long carried on by her for the clothing of her fam- ily. But as late as 1810 she made more than half the woolen cloth manufactured in Maine, turning off 453,410 yards, while the fulling mills dressed but 357,386 yards annually. By 1850, however, the manufacture had largely passed out of her hands, though the number of woolen mills was then but thirty-six. In 1880 they had increased to ninety-three, giving employment in the interior villages to 3,045 persons, and producing an annual product valued at $6,687,073.
Cotton mills soon followed, their product in 1810 amounting to 811,912 yards. The attention of capitalists in other States was turned to Maine's superior water privileges, and though at first encountering opposition from hostile laws, the jealousy of local feeling and the short-sighted policy of putting too high a price upon land, they ultimately gained possession of the best sites, and cotton factories sprang up at Saco in 1831, at Hallo- well in 1844, Biddeford in 1845, and Lewiston in 1846, adding greatly to the population and prosperity of those towns. At a later period factories were established at Augusta, Saccarappa, Waterville, and other towns, and the annual production of cot- ton cloths in Maine, by the census of 1880, was 144,368,675 yards, valued at $13,319,363, and giving employment to 11,864 persons. This product has since been largely increased. Lew- iston is now the chief cotton manufacturing city of Maine, hav- ing in 1892 over nine millions of dollars of incorporated capital invested in its mills. The profits of these investments are chiefly reaped by outside capitalists and do not enrich the State, but the disbursements for labor and improvements add a very considerable item to the annual income of its people. The ad- vantage of applying home capital now largely invested abroad, to this branch of manufacture is beginning to be appreciated, and has led to the establishment of a home mill at Lewiston.
. Among other manufactures which diversify the industry of Maine are her machine shops, which turn out various products, from farming tools to locomotives ; her factories for the utilizing .
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of her woods in various forms; her shoe factories which have gathered in and largely increased the scattered industry. of the roadside shoeshops, giving, in 1880, employment to 3,919 per- sons, with a product of $5,823,541; and her paper mills, the largest of which, established at Cumberland Mills, in the town of Westbrook, has built up a model village, which, together with the neighboring village of Saccarappa, promises to grow into a busy and prosperous manufacturing city.
LABOR.
In 1880 the manufactories of Maine numbered 4,481, employ- ing 52,954 persons, and yielding an annual product of $79,829,- 793. These establishments have given a new direction to the employment of the people, originally almost exclusively engag- ed in lumbering, fishing, sea faring and agriculture. They have largely changed their pursuits from out-door labor to sedentary employments, less conducive to health, and have brought in a large foreign element.
The necessity of self-help and self-protection has led the operatives to unite in labor organizations, whose measures, though not always wise and well-considered, have at least call- ed public attention to the need of laws for their protection, and led to beneficial legislation regulating the hours of labor of women and children, and giving to the latter an opportunity to obtain some schooling.
In 1886 a State Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics was established, and the report of the Commissioner for 1883 con- tains some valuable information concerning the condition of the manufacturing population. Eight boot and shoe factories, em- ploying 1,197 men and 413 women, report the weekly earnings of the men $11.17; annual earnings $499.25. Boys and girls earn $4.50 per week. Fifteen per cent of the employés own homes. Eleven cotton mills, employing 4,402 men, 6,438 wom- en, 239 boys under fifteen years, and 178 girls under fifteen, re- port the weekly earnings of men $3.46; annual earnings, $433; weekly earnings of boys, $3.45 ; of girls $3.59. Percentage own- ing homes, 1} per cent. Fourteen woolen mills, employing 890 men, 649 women, 26 boys under fifteen, and 13 girls under fif- teen, report weekly earnings of men $9.18; annual earnings, $502.00; weekly earnings of women, $7.17; annual earnings. $353.00; weekly earnings of boys, $1.64; of girls, $4.19. Per-
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centage owning homes, 15 per cent. While no general system of relief prevails, many employers are disposed to be liberal toward their faithful employés who have fallen into distress while engaged in their service. The percentage of minors from 12 to 15 employed in sixty-four cotton, woolen, and boot and shoe factories is but 2}, of minors from 15 to 16 is 5 per cent of the whole number employed. The tendency is to reduce the number of children employed in factories. The law, requiring children employed in them to have at least sixteen weeks school- ing in each year, has increased the attendance in school, in man- ufacturing districts, from 5 to 10 per cent.
Many factory employés have sums deposited in savings banks, varying in amounts from $300 to $2,500. In 1891 the total deposits in the savings banks of Maine, in round numbers, amounted to $50,000,000, and there were 146,668 depositors, or nearly one in every five of the inhabitants. 114,889 represent- ed a deposit of less than $500.
These facts go to show that while there is yet room for im- provement in the condition of the manufacturing class, they are, on the whole, able to earn fair wages and to maintain comfort- able homes, while by thrift and economy they can lay aside something for their support in sickness and old age.
RAILROADS.
The resources of Maine are made available by her railroads. They facilitate transportation of products and open new regions to the settler and the tourist. The systems now in operation have sprung into existence within the past forty years.
The first railroad in Maine, connecting Bangor with Oldtown for the transportation of lumber, went into operation in 1836. The Portland, Saco and Portsmouth railroad was chartered in 1837, completed in 1842, leased to the Eastern Railroad in 1871, and with the latter came under the management of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1884. This system, comprising two routes from Portland to Boston, now also controls, by perpetual lease, the Portland and Rochester, opened to the Saco river in 1851, and later extended to Rochester, N. H.
The Androscoggin and Kennebec and the Penobscot and Ken- nebec were chartered in 1845, completed in 1848 and 1855 respectively, consolidated in 1862, united with the Portland and Kennebec in 1871, forming two trunk lines from Portland to
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Waterville, which, with various lateral branches and leased roads, were in 1873 consolidated into the Maine Central system, which, in 1888, including the Portland and Ogdensburg, per- petually leased to it in that year, had an extreme length of C50 miles. This combination of railroads commands the greater part of Maine, connecting Portland, by one line, through Bruns- wick, with Augusta, the capital of the State, and the upper towns on the Kennebec as far as North Anson, and by the other line with Lewiston and Waterville, at which latter point the two unite in a line to Bangor, there connecting with the Ban- gor and Piscataquis, which gives approach to the lakes and woods of Northern Maine, and with the European and North American, which with connections extends as far east as Halifax, N. S. By way of the Knox and Lincoln, from Bath ts Rock- land, connection is made with steamers running to the great sea-side resort, Mt. Desert, and by an extension of the Maine Central east of Bangor, the same point is reached by rail with the exception of a short ferry. The system is well managed and affords great convenience to the traveling public.
An important event in the railroad history of the State was the connection of Portland with Montreal in 1853, by means of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, which, leased to the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, gave connection with the great Northwest and built up a line of European steamships running from Portland in the winter season, thus making that city the winter port of Canada and the Northwest.
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